Duracels or Energizers? That is the Question


 

 

 

A science project on batteries? Yes, a science project on batteries.   It may seem boring but we use batteries all the time.  How would you get to work or school if you didn’t have a battery in your car or how would you know what time it was to get to work or school without your watch which uses batteries also. We have always wanted to know which batteries are the cheapest but yet the most efficient.  By doing this particular project I plan to answer that question for you and give you clearer idea how batteries actually work.  The batteries I used in this experiment are D cell batteries, which are mostly used in flashlights.

Alessandro Volta made the first battery in 1800; he made this by stacking alternated layers of zinc, blotting paper soaked in salt water and silver.  This arrangement was known as the “voltaic pile,” the top and bottom layers of the pile must be different metals.  On a battery there are two terminals, one is marked (+) or positive and the other is marked (-) or negative.  Electrons collect on the negative terminal of the battery, then you connect some type of load to the battery from the wire, like a motor or and electric circuit like a radio.  Inside the battery a chemical reaction produces the electrons, this production of electrons controls how many electrons flow between the terminals.  Electrons flow from the battery into a wire, and then must travel from the negative the positive terminals for a chemical reaction to occur.


 
 
 

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